1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for supporting an object on a surface and more particularly to new and novel apparatus for supporting an object, such as a toy airplane, for universal movement on a support surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Objects
Novelty items, models, dolls and toys, such as toy airplanes are frequently mounted on a support surface via a pedestal which requires a relatively large underlying support surface. Such support surfaces might typically comprise a shelf, table or platform as is entirely conventional. Such mounting pedestals limit the display area and sometimes interfere with the aesthetics of such displays. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and novel apparatus for mounting an object, such as a toy airplane or a model bird or butterfly, on an underlying support surface.
It is another object of the present invention to provide apparatus for supporting an object for universal movement on an underlying support surface.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide new and novel apparatus for improving the aesthetics of displays of objects such as toy airplanes.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide apparatus for mounting objects such as a toy airplane on a support surface with substantially point contact.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide new and novel apparatus for mounting an object such as a toy airplane on a substantially smaller area than that which has been required heretofore.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide new and novel mounting apparatus of the type described which can substantially mount the object on any surface.
It has been found that objects, such as toy airplanes, can be more effectively displayed if they are not all uniformly mounted but rather are angled relative to each other and the support surface. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide mounting apparatus of the type described which can be easily adjusted to display the object in any selected one of a plurality of different attitudes relative to the support surface on which it is mounted.
Another object of the present invention is to provide mounting apparatus of the type described which comprises an elongate rod mounted on an intermediate portion of an object to be mounted.
A further object of the present invention is to provide mounting apparatus of the type described including apparatus for longitudinally adjusting the mounting rod to any selected one of a plurality of different longitudinally spaced positions to adjust the attitude of the object relative to the support surface on which the object is mounted.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide apparatus of the type described wherein the elongate rod is non-linear.
Yet another object of the present invention to provide a mounting apparatus of the type described including mechanism for adjusting the center of gravity of the object relative to an underlying support surface.
Another object of the present invention is to provide mounting apparatus of the type described which can be adjusted to adjust the attitude of the object relative to the surface on which it is mounted.
It has been found that the object to be mounted can comprise a mounting platform on which another object, such as a toy doll can be mounted. To increase the versatility of the device and allow various objects of different weights and sizes to be mounted thereon, the mounting platform mounts a pair of laterally and vertically adjustable rods adjustably mounting weights to counterbalance the weight of the object set on the platform. Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to provide apparatus of the type described wherein the object to be mounted is a mounting platform and mounts a pair of laterally, longitudinally, and vertically adjustable counterbalances mounted thereon.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art as the description thereof proceeds.